Nobody Does it Better

by Samantha Chase

  “Of course. But what difference does that make?”

  “Just…look them over again and see if I missed anything. I don’t know why they’re being so difficult on this but…I swear this has never happened before.”

  “And what about the restaurant? Where are permits at with that?”

  “We’ll be discussing that at the meeting tomorrow as well.”

  “Can I come to this meeting?” he asked, knowing full well that he shouldn’t.

  “No. That is definitely not going to help,” Austin confirmed. “Look, what are you doing right now?”

  “Fantasizing about strangling someone in the town planning office.”

  “Ha, ha. Very funny. Listen, Jake is here with me and maybe the three of us can look things over and talk it through so I can go in there with more of a plan tomorrow. Can we stop by?”

  “Yeah, sure,” he said wearily. “Or maybe I should come to the office?”

  “Nah, we’re in the car after going and looking at a site we’re bidding on and we’re not far from you. We’ll see you soon.”

  “Thanks.” After he hung up, Ryder had to fight the urge to throw the phone across the room. This project was taking way too long to get off the ground. Both projects were and he was beginning to feel like it was a sign or that he was jinxed. All his plans to contribute to Magnolia Sound–put his stamp on it–were definitely not going the way he envisioned, and it made him think back to the day in Austin’s office when Peyton first confronted him. Maybe he was wrong for trying to force his way and his ideas on a town steeped in tradition.

  With a snort, he pushed the thought aside because it was ridiculous. It was all just a coincidence and once everything got cleared up, he had no doubt that the planners would admit they were in the wrong.

  And I can’t wait for it.

  In the distance, he heard the soft knock on the front door as Peyton let herself in. “Hey,” she called out softly. “It’s just me.”

  And just like that, all the tension left his body as she walked up the stairs toward him. The best part of his day was when he got to hold her and kiss her, so he did just that. Then, he led her into the kitchen and grabbed her a bottle of water.

  “How about some wine?” she asked with a nervous laugh. When he turned to question her, she added, “It’s been a rough day.”

  “Uh-oh. That doesn’t sound good.”

  “Ugh…I decided to finally go and confront my mother today,” she told him as she sat down.

  He poured her wine and handed her the glass, opting to grab a bottle of water for himself. “What made you decide to do that today?”

  “I’ve been thinking about it more and more ever since your parents came to visit.” She took a sip of her wine before shaking her head. “I can’t even explain it, I just knew I had to go and do it today.”

  “And…?”

  “And…it was very eye-opening and very emotional and…I guess I’m afraid to get my hopes up.”

  “I’m not really sure what to say. I mean…I guess I understand why you felt like you needed to do it, but I have to agree about not getting your hopes up. Your mother’s been the way she is for far too long for her to suddenly morph into the kind of person you want her to be.”

  “Maybe, but…she seemed to really listen this time.” She gave him a sad smile. “Only time will tell, right?”

  He nodded.

  “So, what about you? How’s your day been?”

  Groaning, he leaned against the island beside her and told her about his call with Austin. “He and Jake are on their way over and hopefully we’ll come up with something to appease the town so we can finally get things back on track.”

  “What about the restaurant? Are the permits still stalled there too?”

  “Unfortunately.” Just thinking about it was making him angry all over again. Before he could say anything else, however, the doorbell rang. “That’ll be them.”

  “I’ll get it,” she said as she went to stand, but Ryder stopped her.

  “No, you relax and enjoy your wine. I’ll get it.” Then he gave her a quick kiss before going down to the door.

  He welcomed Jake and Austin and motioned for them to go up the stairs and smiled when he heard them talking with Peyton.

  “Promise me you’ll call Mallory and go out for a girls’ day,” Jake was saying. “Between the shop and the kids, she doesn’t take nearly as much time for herself as she should. And she’s mentioned more than once how long it’s been since the two of you went to lunch and got pedicures.”

  “Ooh…that is true,” she agreed. “I’ll call her tomorrow and set something up.”

  “Oh, and that also reminds me,” Jake went on. “I’ve got some clients coming in next week and I want to have lunch brought in. Any chance you can cater on such short notice?”

  She smiled. “For you? Of course! Have your assistant call me tomorrow and we’ll set it all up.”

  “Thanks, Peyton. You’re the best.”

  Ryder was about to chime in when his phone rang. His brother’s name came up on the screen and he knew he should take it, so he excused himself and walked over to the living room. He was only half paying attention, but saw Austin put his iPad on the kitchen table while talking to Peyton.

  “Hey,” he said distractedly, as he answered the phone. “What’s up?”

  “Hey, Ryder. You busy?”

  “A little.”

  “Um…so I had dinner with Mom and Dad last night and thanks for the heads-up on what’s going on with Mom!”

  Ugh…he really didn’t want to get into this right now. “It wasn’t my place to tell you and besides, it’s been less than a week, Patrick. It’s not like we talk that often.” Looking across the room, it looked like Austin was showing something to Peyton on his tablet. Maybe he was showing her the resort plans? But…that wouldn’t be right. Why would he pull them out?

  “Yeah, well…I had dinner with them last night and Mom wasn’t looking so good. She said she was tired and I didn’t think much of it. Then she raved about your new girlfriend. Again, thanks for the heads-up. Now she’s after me to meet a nice girl like yours.”

  “Wait…that’s not right,” he heard Peyton say. She looked up at him and frowned before returning her attention to the tablet.

  What’s not right?

  “You know this is going to be a wild time with them,” his brother was saying. “I mean…we should make a joint effort to spend more time with Mom. I know she’s definitely looking to spend more time with you and Peyton. Me? Not so much. She didn’t ask about when I’d be around, only you.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous, Patrick. Of course she wants to spend time with both of us,” he reasoned. “I’m sure it’s nothing personal.”

  “It feels personal,” he murmured.

  “This looks nothing like it’s supposed to!” Peyton’s voice got a little louder and he couldn’t figure out why she was getting so worked up about the resort property. They had nothing to do with the kitchens for the restaurant or the café.

  “Don’t obsess about this. It’s all going to be okay.”

  “Aren’t you the least bit concerned? Our mother has cancer, Ryder. Cancer!”

  “Of course I’m concerned,” he said with a huff of annoyance. “I just think…”

  “What the hell, Ryder?” Peyton cried, and he suddenly put everything that was going on around him together.

  Her restaurant plans.

  Not the resort.

  And the changes he never told her about.

  “I have to go,” he said quickly into the phone before hanging up. Ryder knew he could deal with his brother later, but this…this needed his full attention right now. Stalking across the room, he kept his eyes on her. “Peyton, I…”

  “You changed everything, Ryder!” she said frantically. “Everything!”

  “In his defense,” Austin started, but she cut him right off.

  “He has no defense! Those were my plans. My plans!” She
stepped around both men and stormed toward him. “You said you were building my restaurant, Ryder! Those plans barely resemble anything of mine!”

  Holding up a hand to stop her, he knew one of them had to stay calm and be the voice of reason. “There were issues with the plans,” he explained. “In order to maximize the potential of the property, some changes needed to be made. It’s not a big deal. If you take a breath and just look at what we did, you’ll see that the changes are no big deal. If anything, it made everything better. More efficient.”

  Her eyes narrowed to near slits and he nervously glanced at Austin and Jake–who both turned away.

  “Peyton, come on. Be reasonable. You can’t possibly think that your plans were so perfect that nothing needed to change,” he went on casually, even though he had a feeling he was digging an even deeper hole for himself. “You drew that design yourself. You can’t possibly know everything there is to know about architecture and all it entails to make sure a building is safely placed on a piece of property.”

  Glancing over her shoulder toward her cousin, she asked, “Was the design safe, Austin?”

  “Um…yes?” he said weakly. “But there were…”

  She wasn’t listening. Turning back to Ryder, she said, “And you know what? I could have handled the changes if you had bothered to talk to me about them. I’m not a child and I’m not an idiot and this feels all too familiar, Ryder.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “It’s like we’re right back to when we first met. You’re not taking me seriously and it feels like you…you lied to me to get your way!”

  “How did I…?”

  “You thought you could throw cash at me and when that didn’t work, you promised to build my restaurant! We agreed it would be seventy-five, twenty-five and yet you had no intention of sticking to that, did you?”

  “Of course I did! If you’d just calm down…”

  “And I’m sure once we started sleeping together you really didn’t think you had to honor our agreement!” She groaned as she shook her head with disgust. “I can’t believe I trusted you!”

  “Um…maybe we should go,” Jake said as he and Austin began gathering their things.

  “No,” Peyton said loudly, firmly. “You guys stay. Apparently you have all kinds of plans to discuss that don’t involve me. I’ll go.” She stormed around gathering her things and rather than feeling bad, it angered Ryder.

  “You know what, Peyton? Yes, you should go. Go and calm down and think about all the crazy shit you just said.” When she turned and glared at him, he didn’t back down. “I made a mistake and didn’t talk to you about the plans, but it wasn’t intentional and I certainly didn’t do it because I don’t value your opinion!”

  “Right,” she snorted as she picked up her purse.

  “I don’t see what the big deal here is,” he went on. “It’s a few tweaks and a tree, for crying out loud!”

  “Not to me!” she countered. “Don’t you get it? You gave me your word on this! How many times did I ask about the plans, huh? How many?” Before he could reply, she was already speaking again. “And not once did you mention anything changing! You just let me believe that everything was fine.” Her shoulders sagged as she looked at him sadly. “You lied to my face, Ryder. Repeatedly.”

  Ryder hated when people doubted him, but he hated it even more that she did. After everything they’d shared and everything they’d been building together, for her to think so little of him was beyond hurtful and insulting.

  It gutted him.

  As she started walking down the stairs to the front door, he followed. “When you’re done having a hissy fit and prepared to have an adult conversation about this, let me know,” he said.

  Her only response was to slam the door behind her.

  Fine, he thought. Let her go and calm down. He was trying to put out too many fires to be able to deal with her being hysterical and unreasonable. Raking his hand through his hair, he heaved out a sigh and walked back up to the kitchen.

  “Okay, where were we?” he asked as if nothing happened. “What time is your meeting tomorrow?”

  Jake looked at him as if he were crazy and Austin looked ready to punch him. “What?”

  “Are you seriously just going to let her leave like that?” Austin demanded.

  “She’s upset. Nothing I’m going to say is going to calm her down right now so…it’s better this way. Let’s figure this stuff out and by then she’ll hopefully be willing to have a rational conversation.” He motioned to the tablet. “Can we use your plans or should I go and grab mine?”

  “Ryder,” Jake began cautiously. “Can I offer you a little advice?”

  He wanted to say no, but nodded instead.

  “It sounded like Peyton had a point. You kept pertinent information from her after promising she’d have more than just a small say in this project. I’m sure you think I don’t know what I’m talking about, but believe me, I do. I made a similar mistake with Mallory when we first got back together. Misunderstandings can kill a relationship.”

  “Yeah,” Austin agreed. “And if that didn’t do it, talking to her like she was a child you were reprimanding certainly will. Jeez, man, what were you thinking?”

  It would have been easy to argue but…they were right. He knew he was wrong about not sharing the changes with her, but he wasn’t wrong about her reaction to it and nothing either of them said was going to change his mind on it–which is exactly what he told them.

  “It’s your funeral,” Austin murmured.

  “So…wait. The restaurant–the single standing structure–that’s Peyton’s?” Jake asked.

  “No, it’s mine, but I told her I’d build the restaurant she was planning on for the property.”

  “When was Peyton going to buy that property?”

  Beside them, Austin groaned. “She’d been planning on it for over a year and then Ryder swooped in and stole it out from under her.”

  “Hey! I didn’t steal it from anyone!” he argued.

  “Like that matters right now,” Austin said, his tone dripping sarcasm. “The fact is you got the property and she didn’t and then you made some sort of cockamamie deal where you promised to use her plans and then didn’t.”

  “Yeah, but…”

  “And,” Austin went on, “you neglected to tell me any of that. Peyton and I had talked about her plans for the restaurant and if you would have mentioned even once that these were her plans, I would have gone to her directly and saved your sorry ass.”

  “My ass isn’t…”

  “It’s sorry,” Jake chimed in. “Trust me.”

  “Well…shit.” Sighing, he sat in one of the kitchen chairs. “I’m not used to having to take anyone else into consideration–not in business and not in my personal life. I honestly didn’t think any of this was a big deal. It was a couple of walls…a tree…”

  “And turning the building, and changing the size of a deck, and…”

  “Okay, I get it!” he snapped. “So now what do I do?”

  Both Jake and Austin looked at each other before Jake spoke. “She is going to need some time to cool off because she is definitely mad at you. But don’t give her too long.”

  “And please leave me out of it,” Austin added. “The two of you are exhausting.”

  Jake ignored that statement and tried to focus on the business at hand. “As for what we’re here for, I honestly don’t think there’s anything else you can offer that Austin and I haven’t thought of. Do you trust us to talk to the town planners and try to come up with a solution?”

  He hated not being involved, but Jake was right. This was totally out of his hands. Nodding, he said, “Yeah. I trust you both. Just let me know how it goes.”

  They said their goodbyes and once he was alone, Ryder walked out onto the back deck and stared out at the ocean and wondered how his day had gone so horribly out of control.

  Didn’t Peyton trust him to make the right decisions for her an
d the restaurant? Didn’t she realize his success rate with all the businesses he’d invested in? Why would she take this so personally? Maybe she was just naturally untrusting, or maybe it was because…

  Then it hit him–he’d never had the contracts drawn up. They kept negotiating in the weeks following the initial discussion and then…then their relationship changed.

  Shit.

  “Well, I know what I have to do right now,” he muttered as he pulled out his phone to call his attorney. It was important for Peyton to know she could trust him and if that meant a signed contract and a promise to include her in any and all discussions moving forward for the restaurant, then so be it.

  So much for love, he thought, and it left him struggling with relief for not saying he loved her and disappointment because he was obviously the only one who felt that way. All this time he kept telling himself she was different–that she wasn’t with him because of his last name or for his money–but clearly he was wrong.

  And he wouldn’t make the same mistake again.

  12

  “I can’t believe you’re here.”

  “Well…believe it.”

  “I mean…what were you thinking? This is totally unlike you!”

  It was after midnight and Peyton was putting her feet up on her sister’s couch after over seven hours of driving. “We talked about this when I called to tell you I was on my way. I just needed to get away for a few days. You’ve been begging me to come and visit and here I am. Can’t you just let it go at that?”

  “Absolutely not! I mean…look at you! You’re nearly delirious from driving for so long and I can’t believe you just left the café on such short notice!”

  “Parker…” she whined.

  “Nuh-uh. Out with it.” She plopped down on the opposite end of the couch and crossed her arms, and Peyton knew her sister would sit there like that all night until she got some answers. “And you know what? I’m here in my comfy jammies without a care in the world. I just had a bowl of cookies and cream ice cream with chocolate syrup so I’m all sugared up and wide awake.”